The Week

Berkeley High senior Eddie Morris approaches Principal Jim Slemp and then picks him up during the graduation ceremony at the Greek Theater Friday. More than 7,000 people attended the event. Photograph by Mark Coplan.
Berkeley High senior Eddie Morris approaches Principal Jim Slemp and then picks him up during the graduation ceremony at the Greek Theater Friday. More than 7,000 people attended the event. Photograph by Mark Coplan.
 

News

BHS Class of 2007 Says Goodbye

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 19, 2007

A swarm of yellow descended upon the Greek Theater Friday when 700 Berkeley High School (BHS) graduates walked into its pit amidst a ceremony fit for kings. -more-


Council Gets Down To Budget Business

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Berkeley councilmembers’ multi-million dollar wish list of city services and physical improvements is likely to remain just that—a list of projects on paper. -more-


Hancock, Chan Vie for Seat Now Held By Don Perata

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 19, 2007

A full year away from the primary elections and with two of the East Bay’s most recognized women politicians interested in running, figuring out the odds on who will succeed termed-out state Sen. Don Perata in the District 9 Senate seat would be difficult under normal circumstances. -more-


Downtown Committee Meets Public In Sometimes Heated Session

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Berkeley held its second public workshop on the downtown plan Saturday, a gathering as notable for heated tempers as for innovative visions. -more-


Council to Discuss Public Comment Rules, Priority Development Areas

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Back in the darker ages of Berkeley City Council history—before Berkeleyans Organizing for Library Defense (SuperBOLD) threatened a lawsuit last year—citizens hoping to speak to their elected officials at the public comment period would fill out a card a clerk would throw into a contraption with cards from all the other hopeful speakers. The city clerk would spin the device and choose 10 cards. -more-


Use Permit Approved for Fred’s on Telegraph

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Telegraph Avenue residents will soon be able to shop for groceries at a new Fred’s Market opening up at the former site of Owl Rexall Drugs. -more-


Court Dates Set For Oak Grove Lawsuits

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 19, 2007

The lawsuits aimed at saving the grove at California Memorial Stadium are consuming a few trees of their own as the blizzard of paperwork continues in the leadup to an eventual courtroom showdown. -more-


King Principal Takes Her Leave

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 19, 2007

It’s not easy getting ahold of King Middle School Principal Kit Pappenheimer, especially in the days before her school closes for the summer. -more-


Legislative Briefs

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 19, 2007

SB67 Vehicle Speed Contests and Reckless Driving (Sideshow 30-Day Car Confiscation) – Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland) -more-


KyotoUSA Optimistic About Solar Project

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Proponents of the proposed solar project at Washington Elementary School are getting ready to celebrate victory after the 7:30 p.m. Berkeley Board of Education meeting Wednesday at Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. -more-


Arrest Made in 2005 Triple Fatal Collision

By Bay City News
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Police made an arrest Friday in connection with a fiery big-rig collision that killed three UC Berkeley students in 2005, the California Highway Patrol announced. -more-


Historic Buildings, New Projects Top Land Use Agendas

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Landmarks commissioners and citizen planners will meet Wednesday night to decide—for the moment—the role of historic buildings in the new downtown Berkeley plan. -more-


Hal Carlstad, 1925-2007

By Eleanor Piez
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Hal Carlstad, known throughout Berkeley and neighboring communities as a leader in a wide range of progressive social and environmental causes, died Tuesday, June 12 after a long illness. He was 82. -more-


Peralta Vice Chancellor Margaret Haig Dies

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Peralta Community College District Educational Services Vice Chancellor Margaret Haig passed away this week after a brief illness. -more-


Million-Dollar Home Fire, Warehouse Blaze Fought

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 15, 2007

Separate fires struck Berkeley Wednesday, one doing over $1 million in damage to a 98-year-old home on College Avenue -more-


Planners Approve Expanded ‘Priority Development Areas’

By Richard Brenneman
Friday June 15, 2007

Planning commissioners voted Wednesday night to designate downtown Berkeley and five thoroughfares as targets for state-funded high-density development: Telegraph, southern Shattuck, University and San Pablo avenues and Adeline Street. -more-


Council OKs ‘Public Commons Initiative’ Concept

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 15, 2007

Ridiculed as the “Public Commons for Everyone but the Homeless” initiative and lauded as a measure badly needed to rid shopping areas of people who act inappropriately and drive customers away, the City Council approved in concept Tuesday night Mayor Tom Bates’ Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, a laundry list of proposals that will be further refined into laws, and considered again in about six months. -more-


Council Passes On Hearing for Wright’s Garage

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 15, 2007

The Berkeley City Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday in favor of holding a public hearing on the “Wright’s Garage” project proposed for 2629 Ashby Ave., but no such hearing is currently scheduled. -more-


Adult School Graduates Cheered by Families

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 15, 2007

Graduation was a family affair at the Berkeley Adult School (BAS) Tuesday. -more-


Berkeley High Beat: Berkeley High Engineering Club Catapults into Albany Bulb

By Rio Bauce
Friday June 15, 2007

On Sunday, June 3, the Berkeley High School Engineering Club (BHEC) designed, built, and successfully launched a trebuchet at the Albany Bulb. While BHEC may not strike a chord with most Berkeley residents, its presence is well known at the high school. -more-


Berkeley School District Facing Nutrition Funding Loss

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 15, 2007

The Berkeley public schools could lose $60,000 in nutrition money in the new school year if the state legislature cuts funding from the California Fresh Start Program this month. -more-


Alameda County Budget Balanced on a Pin

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 15, 2007

The Alameda County Administrator’s office has issued a new county budget that closes a projected $52 million funding gap with no layoffs and no program cuts, but County Administrator Susan Muranishi warned reporters at a Wednesday briefing that the governor’s proposed “solution” to the state’s incarceration problem could throw her calculations out of whack. -more-


No Landmark Status for UC Laguna St. Building

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 15, 2007

UC Berkeley’s plan to convert its historic six-acre Laguna Street Extension campus in San Francisco into a private rental-housing development moved a step forward when the San Francisco Planning Commission voted against recommending it as a local landmark last Thursday. -more-


All Berkeley Children Eligible for Summer Breakfast

By Riya Bhattacharjee
Friday June 15, 2007

This summer kids in Berkeley will be treated to free breakfast every day, courtesy of the Berkeley Unified School District. -more-


No API Score for Berkeley High School

By Rio Bauce
Friday June 15, 2007

Berkeley High School Vice Principal Pasquale Scuderi announced Thursday that the school had not met the benchmarks to receive an Annual Performance Index (API) score. The federal government requires a 95 percent participation rate in the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) tests. -more-


Opinion

Editorials

Editorial: A Confused Council Should Demand a Second Opinion

By Becky O’Malley
Tuesday June 19, 2007

It’s possible that democratic government as we’ve known it is on its way to becoming an endangered species in the United States of America, a richly endowed country that’s only managed to sustain itself for less than a quarter of a millennium so far. In Washington scoundrels of all descriptions, with Albert Gonzales the most prominent but by no means the only example, frolic with impunity in what used to be known as the federal government. While Gonzales has been busy dismantling the Justice Department, his allies have severely damaged the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, to name just two victim agencies. What’s remarkable is that no so-called expose by the press or even by congressional committees of the massive mischief of the Bush administration has made much difference. In a May 14 New Yorker piece that became an instant classic, George Packer asked: “Why has it become impossible to admit a mistake in Washington and accept the consequences?” -more-


New Housing Authority Accepts City Manager’s Plan

By Judith Scherr
Friday June 15, 2007

Heralded as a clean break with an inglorious past, a new board took the reins Tuesday of the “troubled” Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) and began immediately to plan to govern the 1,800 federally-funded Section 8 apartments and 75 units of public housing. -more-


Public Comment

Letters to the Editor

Tuesday June 19, 2007

JAZZ IS -more-


Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Won’t Be Rapid, But It Will Be a Bus...t

By Gale Garcia
Tuesday June 19, 2007

“Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) is AC Transit’s plan to take over two lanes of Telegraph Avenue and eliminate up to 315 Berkeley parking spaces for humongous buses traveling from downtown San Leandro to downtown Berkeley. The draft environmental impact report (EIR) for this project, available at the library or from AC Transit, is a real eye-opener and an amusing read. -more-


Commentary: BRT Would Have A Negative Impact On Our Neighborhoods

By Mary Oram
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Over the past year and a half I have learned about the proposal from AC Transit to install a “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) program to connect San Leandro to Oakland to Berkeley. We are now near the end of the review period for the environmental impact statement/report (EIS/R) on the project. (You can read the EIS/R at www.actransit.org/news/articledetail.wu?articleid=42622c20.) -more-


Commentary: Speeding Up Buses Without Screwing Up Telegraph

By Michael Katz
Tuesday June 19, 2007

Ignore all the diesel smoke and rumbling around AC Transit’s misnamed “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) proposal to take over two lanes of Telegraph Avenue, and two striking facts stand clear. -more-


Readers Sound Off On Bus Rapid Transit Plan

Tuesday June 19, 2007

BUS RAPID TRANSIT -more-


Letters to the Editor

Friday June 15, 2007

ROUGH LANGUAGE -more-


Commentary: DAPAC: A Personal View From the Inside

by Jim Novosel
Friday June 15, 2007

When I was invited to join the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) last January, I thought, “What a cool name.” I thought it was pronounced dah pak, sort of hip hop sounding. And then I imagined 21 guys and gals with tattoos, bare midrifts, low slung pants, nose rings and rap songs in the background. Well, no such luck. This group of 21 takes its charge from the City Council dead seriously, and that charge is to create a new downtown plan by November of this year. They have been working for 18 months and now, having less than five months to complete their work, they are in crunch time. -more-


Commentary: Bus Rapid Transit Inaccuracies

By Len Conly
Friday June 15, 2007

Peter Allen’s assertion in these pages that “The bus rapid transit proposal is an expensive compromise...” is inaccurate. -more-


Commentary: BRT Benefits Outweigh Inconveniences

By Rob Wrenn
Friday June 15, 2007

In his attack on bus rapid transit (Daily Planet, June 8), Peter Allen says that AC Transit should reduce fares and run more buses instead of implementing BRT. -more-


Commentary: BRT as Ideology

By Steve Geller
Friday June 15, 2007

Bus rapid transit (BRT) in Berkeley has become a clash of ideologies. Prophecies of doom from global warming contend with the passionate assertions of a citizen’s right to drive, and to have a parking space. The BRT was proposed originally to be an attractive alternative to driving. Finally, a large number of people who work at UC and in downtown Berkeley will be able to commute faster and more conveniently in a bus than they have been while driving their car. But to hear some people talk, BRT will just take away parking and cause more congestion. These folks can’t see themselves riding a bus, and think that none of their fellow car drivers will use the bus either. Their view is framed by the belief that traffic after BRT will be just the same as it is now, with the added annoyance of big buses taking up bus-only lanes. Other ideologues include some Telegraph merchants, who see any reduction in parking causing a decline in business. Their view is framed by the belief that all their customers will come by car. -more-


Columns

Green Neighbors: Be Sure to Use Those Exotic Species Responsibly

By Rn Sullivan
Tuesday June 19, 2007

It must have been just about a year ago that a reader wrote to me via The Planet, asking about a row of trees on a street near Ashby and San Pablo. They were blooming—as they are now—and he’d been enjoying them for a long time and wondered what they were. -more-


Column: Undercurrents: Mayor Dellums Isn’t What’s Wrong With Oakland

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Friday June 15, 2007

Five months into his mayoral administration, is Ron Dellums Oakland’s major problem? -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Sea Captains Found an Ideal Home in Berkeley

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 15, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third part in an ongoing series on Berkeley captains’ houses and the families that inhabited them. -more-


Garden Variety: Turning Up a New Leaf

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 15, 2007

Just on impulse and because I spotted a parking space, I dropped into Green Jeans Garden Supply in Mill Valley the other day. I was looking for something else entirely, but there was a four-inch seedling in the Edibles rack that I didn’t recognize. The label called it “agretti” and I didn’t recognize that either. “Italian specialty green—eat raw or sautéed with garlic and olive oil.” -more-


About the House: Deconstructing Grandma’s Cookstove

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 15, 2007

The kitchens of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s had terrific old stoves. They were simple, heavy, and used lots more gas because they lacked insulation. They had built-in lamps, clocks and spring timers, but other than that they were technologically very simple. Nothing fancy. That means that, if you are lucky enough to own one, they’re repairable, and if you are of a mind to, they can be disassembled, cleaned and repaired without a lot of technical skill. The pilots for both oven and top burner have a small screw that can be adjusted to elevate or reduce the flame, but many ovens did not have pilots (except for the one that ran during operation). They needed to be lit with a match. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday June 15, 2007

Don’t Be Frozen By Fear! -more-


Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Tuesday June 19, 2007

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 -more-


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Tuesday June 19, 2007

FIRST EXPOSURES -more-


The Theater: Cal Shakes Stages Richard III in Orinda

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 19, 2007

In black battle dress, a figure hobbles onstage to the unlikely strains of Patsy Cline belting out “Wheel of Fortune” over a big band. As he performs an exhausted striptease—one suited for a locker room—the battle-weary wraith launches into “Now is the winter of our discontent” and finally dons topcoat over white T-shirt: Gloucester, who will one day soon be Richard III. -more-


The Theater: Virago Presents Two Plays by Local Playwrights

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday June 19, 2007

The Virago Theatre company, resident in Alameda, is currently staging the premieres of two short plays by Bay Area playwrights, The Death of Ayn Rand, by John Byrd (directed by Robert Lundy-Paine) and A Bed of My Own, by well-known Oakland actor and director Robert Hamm (directed by Laura Lundy-Paine) at Rhythmix Cultural Works in Alameda. -more-


Green Neighbors: Be Sure to Use Those Exotic Species Responsibly

By Rn Sullivan
Tuesday June 19, 2007

It must have been just about a year ago that a reader wrote to me via The Planet, asking about a row of trees on a street near Ashby and San Pablo. They were blooming—as they are now—and he’d been enjoying them for a long time and wondered what they were. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday June 19, 2007

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 -more-


Correction and Clarification

Tuesday June 19, 2007

CORRECTION -more-


Open Call for Essays

Tuesday June 19, 2007

OPEN CALL FOR ESSAYS -more-


Arts Calendar

Friday June 15, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 15 -more-


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday June 15, 2007

TEA ’N’ CRISP -more-


Moving Pictures: A New Take on Classic Film Techniques

By Justin DeFreitas
Friday June 15, 2007

Guy Maddin’s latest film is another avant garde piece, a pseudo-silent film that employs striking imagery, dubbed sound effects, intertitles and spoken narration in the creation of a unique and fascinating experience. Brand Upon the Brain! is a strange film that seems to exist in no particular era or idiom. It is both timeless and out of time, a film and a story that seemingly could have occurred anytime and anyplace, yet in no particular time or place that ever existed. -more-


New Opera Portrays Life and Times of Black Panthers

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 15, 2007

Oakland Opera Theater will present two staged scenes from operas in progress by Mary Watkins—Dark River—and Clark Suprynowicz—The Panthers—this weekend, Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at The Oakland Metro Operahouse, 201 Broadway, near Jack London Square. -more-


Ed Reed Sings Love Songs at Anna’s Jazz Island

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday June 15, 2007

Ed Reed, the remarkable jazz singer who launched his first CD at Anna’s Jazz Island just a few months back, returns to the downtown club Saturday night at 8 and 10, with a stellar band, to display the warmth, range and interpretive style of his voice, making his album title, Ed Reed Sings Love Songs, a natural. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Sea Captains Found an Ideal Home in Berkeley

By Daniella Thompson
Friday June 15, 2007

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third part in an ongoing series on Berkeley captains’ houses and the families that inhabited them. -more-


Garden Variety: Turning Up a New Leaf

By Ron Sullivan
Friday June 15, 2007

Just on impulse and because I spotted a parking space, I dropped into Green Jeans Garden Supply in Mill Valley the other day. I was looking for something else entirely, but there was a four-inch seedling in the Edibles rack that I didn’t recognize. The label called it “agretti” and I didn’t recognize that either. “Italian specialty green—eat raw or sautéed with garlic and olive oil.” -more-


About the House: Deconstructing Grandma’s Cookstove

By Matt Cantor
Friday June 15, 2007

The kitchens of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s had terrific old stoves. They were simple, heavy, and used lots more gas because they lacked insulation. They had built-in lamps, clocks and spring timers, but other than that they were technologically very simple. Nothing fancy. That means that, if you are lucky enough to own one, they’re repairable, and if you are of a mind to, they can be disassembled, cleaned and repaired without a lot of technical skill. The pilots for both oven and top burner have a small screw that can be adjusted to elevate or reduce the flame, but many ovens did not have pilots (except for the one that ran during operation). They needed to be lit with a match. -more-


Quake Tip of the Week

By Larry Guillot
Friday June 15, 2007

Don’t Be Frozen By Fear! -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday June 15, 2007

FRIDAY, JUNE 15 -more-